Former Dark Continent Brightens with Mobile Internet

11 years

Many people who live in Africa don’t have personal computers but do have mobile phones. Mobile phone providers are fulfilling the thirst for knowledge and connectivity the internet provides. The company Celtel-Sierra Leone has unveiled plans to offer internet access and downloads to an inquisitive nation. In case you’ve forgotten, Sierra Leone is a small country on Africa’s Atlantic coast.

“The mobile internet service is reliable, affordable and accessible to all subscribers using Celtel network all over the country,” a senior official told Highway Africa News Agency (HANA).

According to Andrew Johnson, a private IT expert, Tigo mobile offered the citizens of Sierra Leone mobile internet services first. “Each other mobile telecommunications network seems to be playing catch up with Tigo,” he said adding that “this will make other mobile companies to come up with more improved facilities to boost up the communications industry in the country.”

To date, Tigo offers the cheapest rates in Sierra Leone, but competition is bound to reduce costs and improve services. If you represent a company that is interested in jumping into the Sierra Leone market there is a caveat: the country underwent a bloody civil war between 1991 and 2002. But currently, the government is stable enough to have a National Telecommunications Commission (Na Tcom) that regulates and licenses mobile companies.